


Gashes in Pride

by SummySwan



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Exorcists, First time writing them aaaaaaa, INJURY/CURSE MENTION!, Lowkey gayness, M/M, Pining, Yaoi, but they don't kNow they're pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 00:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12047724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummySwan/pseuds/SummySwan
Summary: He wasn't attatched to Natori.At least, that's what he told himself.





	Gashes in Pride

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hakuzo_k](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakuzo_k/gifts).



The black marks had whisked and swirled around his wrist, going onto the starts of his palm, his cuffs pushed upwards to hide it. The dim hallway hid Natori's distressed face, breath quickened a tick, his Yokai standing by without a sound. The meeting had been called for because of a dangerous reproducing Yokai, everyone asked to attend if they happened to be near by for information spreading about how to deal with it. Natori had been stubborn, throwing away his own pain to come to the conference regardless of his curse. 

Curses were easily placed if you continuously followed a person, carving despicable marks into their skin, only to vanish if their requests were made. But, alas, the Yokai who had pierced his shoulder couldn't speak, guttural sounds sputtered immensely when Natori approached its domain. Perhaps he should have gained more information beforehand before deciding to exorcise such a troublesome beast, so, of course, the one time he didn't proceed with absolute procession, he happened to get a deadly curse that would kill him.

Yanking the cuffs from being folded, he pulled the fabric all the way down on his left hand, right arm not having been drowned in black. It was a pure destructive curse, vandalizing marks speaking only of death, bleak color starting to make its way near Natori's neck and into a visible point. Japanese and English were mixed together, all of the symbols connected at at least one point, a continuous melding applied. The exorcist had been reading into how to fix it, but couldn't find anything without needing-

Footsteps sauntered towards him, Natori shoving his left hand into his pocket, turning around to see exactly who he expected, Matoba. The other had a gentle smile on his face, but many knew of the devious ideas that came from that up-quirk of lips, including Natori. His usual robes fluttered around him, creating a tranquil type of aurora that non-spiritual people found to be attractive. But anyone with a sense of the other realm would freeze up, steps quickening to further themselves from Matoba.

"What a pleasure to see you." Matoba's words sounded honey sweet, dripping with a lax gentleness that adults knew how to pull off, but Natori was well aware of what was really behind that facade.

"Matoba." He greeted dimly, not caring to hide his discomfort from someone who had known him for longer than he wished.

"Quite interesting to see you for such a dull subject." Jet black hair curved around a face with an eye that spoke dangerous vibes, hand reaching up to hide a chuckle from his thin lips.

"Same goes to you," Natori leaned back into a wall nearby with as much laziness as he could take, a bogus way to hide his his discomfort, "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to see if the Yokai that was rumored was strong enough that I could use," Matoba smoothly replied, "But you have no interest in such things, are you perhaps looking for information on something else?"

Natori forced himself to remain as still as possible, naturally as he could be, but from the way Matoba's smirk widened a fraction, he knew that the man had noticed something was amiss. It was silent, chatter from the hallway filled with people distant, Natori giving Matoba an answer by adverting his eyes.

"It's none of your business." The blond coldly replied, shoulders almost touching as he walked past the other leisurely, although both knew that Matoba could easily take a glance at him and know something had happened. 

"Maybe it had something to do with Natsume~?" A teasing tone echoed, but Natori stiffly walked back to the room while ignoring inquiring comments, left hand still shoved into his pocket, shoulders tensed at how Matoba had caught on within a minute of something wrong.

His feet slapped quietly on the tiled ground, right arm reaching to adjust his glasses, a nervous habit that he unconsciously adapted to doing. Walking in through the doors, he was relieved to note that they had just recently started up about the information release, small fry clearly anxious about such a being. All they had to do was find the parent, kill it, and then it would be over, but some people felt pity for a being that was causing quite the stir up in many exorcists homes. Natori was begrudgingly noting how a sharp pain in his shoulder had started up, and he stayed close but not too much so to the door, eyes glancing around to catch people's reactions.

Matoba had come in a few minutes later, without a singular sound apart from a soft tapping of feet but still noticed by some, walking a few feet closer to Natori, most people crowded towards the front. Faces that had turned towards the new presence quickly snapped back towards the front, many fearing Matoba for various rumors and reasons. The other nearest person was at least twenty feet away from the two of them, the blond exorcist throwing a suspecting glance towards the black haired man.

"You're tenser than usual." Matoba remarked casually, eyes still focused on the person speaking loudly in the center, quite obviously exaggerating his experiences with the particular Yokai.

"And you're more annoying than usual." Natori snapped back, irritation more clear in his tone than it should have been, shoulder throbbing as a reminder of his failure.

Silence was mirrored between the two of them, both not listening too much to the information that had been gathered by other exorcists, Natori struggling with whether to say something or not. Although he remained calm on the surface, this entire thing was eating him up. The markings had ensnared themselves on his entire arm within two days, and he had no idea when it could kill him, sleepless nights not helping him come up with how to solve it. Perhaps asking another skilled exorcist might help, but Matoba felt too distant, too manipulative to ask.

A hiss escaped out of his mouth, teeth biting on his lips to keep silent. The pain had quite quickly doubled in mere seconds, his heart thudding deeply throughout his body, and he knew he was going to be in trouble in a few more minutes. His mind was smeared, incoherent thoughts, face revealing a rare scowl as he quickly fled the room, right hand twitching from trying not to reach desperately for his left shoulder, mind tapping back and forth with many thoughts at once.

He was able to go through the hallway from before and get into an empty room, collapsing mid step, leaning against a wall. He heard his yokai's worried voices teetering on desperation, but it had all started to blearily fade out, their words sounding slurred, and he struggled to keep his eyes in focus. What a foolish ending for him, one small mistake of not preparing enough costing him his own life, Yokai murmuring worriedly around. It was most likely Hiiragi's voice that wavered, emotion bleeding into her voice. He hoped Natsume would be safe, that someone else could keep the role of looking out for the boy.

Natori was able to look down and see how his left hand had been emerged in black, and that was his last coherent thought.

 

Matoba was not an empathetic nor compassionate person whatsoever, but he also knew when his own curiosity would drag him towards people. Natori was someone he enjoyed observing, and he was relatively easy to read. All you had to do was look and ask a particular question, and see how his lips twitched, eyes thinning and a childish pout appearing, and you would know you had caught him in your web. Perhaps from the length of time they had known each other he was able to notice the signs, eyes finding themselves to Natori's figure unconsciously, or because he had trained himself to notice the little things about each person.

Natori had been more peculiar than usual, he should ordinarily be able to ease the tension in his shoulders more, give everyone a dazzling smile. He was an actor after all, but today he was disturbed and quite disheveled, his hair frizzed out instead of being brushed back. His outfit was messy, casual clothing not as put together as it could've been, especially for someone who put oh so much effort into how jeans fit flawlessly. His reputation by normal humans was a sweetheart, most mistaking him for an innocent type. What alarmed him was a grim groan from the other, hands shoved in his pockets as he departed from the room, not even glancing in Matoba's direction as he usually would.

It wasn't attachment, but a mere curiosity.

That was the information he monologued internally to himself as he walked down the hall, ears hearing shuffling in a room attached to the main hallway. It would be unlikely that Natori had wandered in there, as it wasn't secretive nor discrete at all. Most people traveled down these halls to gossip and breathily giggle about rumors, but he still decided to check regardless. Sliding open the doors efficiently but not with too much noise, his body temporarily froze up for a second.

He had seen Natori distressed, peeved, distressed, and displeased from a cutting remark, but never had he witnessed the prideful man laying in a heap, ass planted on the floor, hunched over and panting like an overheated dog. His face betrayed him for a moment, eye widening and mouth parting slightly, hands stiffly frozen on the wood. Usually when the exorcist was upset it had something to do with Natsume, not his own health, as he tended to be cautious. He smoothened out his facial features in a few seconds, plastering a small smile while closing the door, sliding his hands across it flawlessly. The yokai of Natori's had noticed him, and he was able to glance from behind them Natori's unbuttoned shirt before they were reacting.

That's when he saw the marks, branching out onto his ribs, curses wired into his flesh. Natori was unfocused, not even noticing the presence of another, and Matoba recognized the curse immediately. 

"I know how to help him." Matoba spoke seriously, keeping his composure even with Natori looking quite close to passing out, fingers betraying him and twitching mildly.

The Yokai all paused, before moving away a few feet. They knew that even if he had ulterior motives to do something, Natori would die soon regardless. While Yokai were helpful and great sacrifices at times, it seemed that the things were genuinely worried about him. Natori tended to catch people's eye, smile curving into something most described at gorgeous, and many would blush darkly at the mere sight of him. All of them would squirm at his currently pale face, body struggling to stay stabilized and balanced.

But Matoba wouldn't.

Digging his nails into his palms while he leaned down on on knee, he was able to break the surface layer of his skin, a small flow of blood coming out after a moment. His hands reached toward's Natori's chest, brushing the shirt towards the sides and placing his own pale-skinned palm firmly on where the heart was, a mild sting on where he was opened irritated at the pressure. And then he softly chanted, eyes staying open, eyes glancing over the blond's shuddering body, skin notably more pale with the few seconds he took to prepare. Natori's lips had lost most of their usual color, as it was commonly a usual cherry pink.

He, obviously, noticed this from years of seeing the other thanks to his observation skills, of course.

Chanting for a few minutes more, he watched the discomfort decrease from the other's facial features, black marks marred over tan skin slowly fading away, withering and curling away from his purifying words. His knowledge of how to deal with this was from dealing with it first handed, but it happened to be a rare type of curse that was rarely documented. Judging by how it was a slanted and not direct cut, the Yokai who had enhanced this poisonous style was trying to aim for his heart, and missed it by a few inches. The marks started from his shoulder, and his hand skimmed over the smooth skin, a small trail of blood smudging lightly. 

Natori had stopped shivering by this point in time, body temperature coming up while face was gaining back color, lips turning a supple pink. Matoba smugly enjoyed the few minutes of the marks disappearing completely, focused on seeing them vanish and shriveling up. Once they had melted away, his attention flicked up to Natori's face, the other seemingly having passed out sometime during the exorcism. Matoba's hand had reached up and brushed back the other's hair, threading his fingers through the blond tendrils dreadfully as soft as woman's locks. His mind was not processing what he was affectionately doing until it was too late, flush gaining momentum on his cheeks.

He stood up, the only hints of embarrassment at his impulsive idea being slightly pink ears, easily making a facade in moments, as he turned around to leave.

"You're quite lucky I find you interesting..." He muttered, face showing a mild scowl while his blush started to return.

He was *not* attached to such a fool.

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing for this lovely show!
> 
> If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to give me some things to work on:)


End file.
